People

About me

I have been an Associate Professor in Social Research since 2022. My post is linked with Tampere University's profilation area STUE (Sustainable Transformation of Urban Environments) and to the question of socially sustainable urban transformation. I have been a Professor in Social Policy at Tampere University since 2023. Before that, I worked as an Associate Professor in Social Research. I have previously worked at the Universities of Turku and Oulu, and at Helsinki University of Technology. I have also served as a visiting professor/scholar in several Nordic (NTNU, Roskilde University, Uppsala University) and North American universities (Simon Fraser University, University of Pennsylvania), and have been a Fulbright Senior Scholar at Syracuse University (USA). 

I am a docent at the University of Turku (urban geography) and at Åbo Akademi University (legal geography).

My previous last name is Rannila, so some of my research publications can be found with that name. 

Responsibilities

I lead the Research Network for Justice, Space and Society (JUSTSPACES) and have recently served as a PI in three research projects: Spaces of Confinement in the Institutions of Care and Control in Finland (Academy of Finland 2017–2022), The RIght to Suburban Space (The Finnish Ministry of the Environment, Neighborhood Program 2020–2023) and "Space, Justice and Everyday Democracy" (Kone Foundation 2022–2025).

I enjoy supervising dissertations and Master's theses related to my expertise, so feel free to contact in case you are intersted in the research topics of our research team. We are also interested in new collaboration with researchers, cities, journalists, artists, communities and activists. 

Field of expertise

My main research interests include: 

- the right to (sub)urban space;

- socially sustainable and just cities; 

- urban inequality;

- everyday democracy and participation; 

- urban public spaces;

- urban margins and alternative communities; 

- space/law relations; 

- the conceptualizations of social spaces, places and landscapes.

About me

I work as a project manager for the Tampere Urban Research Network for Sustainability TURNS research platform.

As a researcher, I am interested in equality issues and social sustainability related to urban space. I am specialized in urban art and have a PhD in human geography. My research topics have been various, including public spaces, law, suburbs, play, art, participatory urban planning, neurodiversity, artificial intelligence, and more.

Field of expertise

Urban research, public space, public art, sustainable cities